How many of you guys have done this and your thoughts please? Are you running into over heating problems? I dont know how far you can take these blocks. Thanks in advance

 

i'd like to know this too since i have a 5.3 sitting in my garage that is not really worth much to me unless i can do something with it like this

marc

 

TTT

 

personally, i haven't done a 5.3 but really, overheating is'nt even an issue. if the 5.3's do ok in the trucks, our f-body's are no diffrent. aside from that, there are plenty of 422" iron motors out there doing fine.

honestly, the 5.3 is going to be the motor of choice for the next 5-10 years of f-body hot rodders imo. the aluminum blocks arent worth a flip. they break too easily and have no means of refurbishment other than sleeving the block. since the 5.3 can go out to factory LS1 bore specs, and because of how stinkin common they are, it'll probably be a very common alternitave.

just speculating here but a iron block, 346ci LS1 bottom end w/ good rods and pistions could potentially be a 9 second motor w/ the right suspension setup and some spray ;D

 

But what I am asking is boring one out that much, well, isnt that making the walls a bit thin. It is kinda like a old 350, you can bore one .080 but you really dont want to because of the water jackets...ttt

 

The one I built is running great in a Procharged car and it is bored to 3.910 (348cid). It has also seen up to a 250-shot.

 

Where are all the sponsors that build engines ?
I'm sure someone has sonic tested the wall thickness after a 3.9 bore out
I love to see what the big engine builders think about this?
If the block are dimensionally the same maybe there the same inside ?
Ok someone cut one in half that would tell us for sure <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

jim

 

i have a 5.3 and a 5.7 sitting right next to each other and if you can tell me what to measure then i'll do it and see what i can see

marc

 

There is plenty of wall thickness left after it is bored that much, I have done it and it works great, I don't remember how much material(#) was left but it was plenty thick, go for it!!

 

so what is the max bore we can get out of a 5.3 block before we the walls would be too thin?

marc

 

FWIW, I bought my block from Nick when he was at ARE. He said the 5.3 had plenty of meat left when bored to 3.905. That is why I bought it!

Todd

 

So the internals are the same as the 5.7 as well?

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by RED2K:
<strong> So the internals are the same as the 5.7 as well? </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The block needing to be bored .120" will probably cost just a few bucks more than a normal cylinder boring (multiple cuts would be required as I was told) My 5.3L block looked to have plenty of cylinder wall thickness before I traded it off for a cam, lol.

The crank will have the same stroke, although the 5.3L crank is not gundrilled through the middle like the 5.7L cranks. If you had a stock 5.7L rotating assembly you could use it without concern for balancing. If you used the 5.3L crank with 5.7L pistons or any forged pistons definatly get the reciprocating assembly rebalanced.

PS: The 4.8L and 5.3L bare block are identical.